


Nightmares

by Taarbas



Series: Surfacers [7]
Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 4
Genre: Angst, Drabble, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Love Confessions, im weak im sorry, short fic, trope:nightmares and sharing a bed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-17
Updated: 2016-04-17
Packaged: 2018-06-02 18:14:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,707
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6577240
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Taarbas/pseuds/Taarbas
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's no secret X6 suffers from nightmares, half-baked hallucinations taunting him as he tries to sleep. After one that leaves him screaming, he takes comfort in Tracy. Now's a good time to blurt out he loves her, right?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nightmares

It wasn’t the first time he woke up screaming. The first time happened the first night he was out of the Institute, horrible images of distorted creatures reaching for him, pulling his wires out from under his skin and choking him with his own blood. That first time Tracy had come running, hair still mussed from sleep and eyes half lidded, and sat on the edge of his bed, holding his hand as he shook and tried to calm himself down. Tonight was no different. Before he could even get a hand over his mouth to stop more sound escaping, her own were on his face, gently guiding him to sit up and lean on her. “Shhh love,” She whispered, running her hand up and down his back as he shook and quivered. “It’s okay. Just a dream. No one’s coming for you. You need some water?” He shook his head, the thought of her leaving terrifying him. His hands clutched at her nightshirt, a whimper leaving his mouth when she shifted her weight. He was afraid she was leaving. She shushed him, gently folding her hands over his and squeezing. “You’re gonna be okay,” She whispered, pulling him closer and guiding him to rest his head on her shoulder. “The Institute can’t reach you here,” He didn’t know why the thought comforted him, but it did. He owed everything to the Institute, being cut off from it should have terrified him. Instead, it helped soothe his nerves, chasing away lingering memories of shadowy hands grabbing at his clothes. “Just breathe sweetheart. In and out,” A hand curled around the back of his head, her thumb stroking his hair while the other held his own. He tried to follow her advice, his breath sawing out of his throat and stirring her hair. She didn’t mind, squeezing his hand whenever his breath hitched and threatened to trail off into a sob. 

Slowly, it began to calm enough for him to speak. “I’m sorry for waking you, ma’am,” He choked out, his fingers tangling in her sleeve and squeezing as he spoke. Her hand left his head, curling around his body and squeezing him tight.

“Hush doll, it’s no trouble. Danse used to have these episodes too. So does Hancock. It happens,” He whimpered, burying his face in the crook of her neck. Later he’d curse himself for the act, fully aware of how unprofessional it was and how many boundaries it crossed. But for now, he was too afraid to think of anything other than how warm and safe she made him feel. 

“They’re coming for me, ma’am. You’ll have to give me up,” He whimpered, still convinced what he had saw was real. Men in pristine white lab coats had been grabbing him, dragging him forward by his arms and forcing him down onto a cold metal table. Harsh lights beat down on him as they held him down, a few looming over him with various tools. He’d screamed and screamed, and no one had cared. “I’ve failed,” 

“No you haven’t,” Tracy whispered, her hand skimming up his back. “And no one’s gonna take you from me. Not raiders, not the Commonwealth, and certainly not the Institute. They can pry you from my cold, dead hands,” He whimpered, nuzzling closer to her. She didn’t seem to mind, despite the clear breach of her space, instead bringing her arms around him and just holding him as he whimpered and trembled and tried to keep from crying. She rested her chin on his head, letting him cling to her. “Do you wanna talk about it?” She asked after a time, waiting until his grip on her shirt had lost its desperate edge. Slowly, he nodded, not extracting himself from her grip. She didn’t force him. “Alright. Whenever you’re ready,” He nodded against her collarbone, nails biting into the skin of her back. Dimly, he was aware that he may be hurting her by doing that, but the thought was buried under multiple alarms. Taking a shaky breath that almost turned into a sob, he began. 

“There were men, ma’am. In white coats,” She stroked his back as he spoke, not forcing him to sit up or remove his head from her chest. “They...they dragged me away. I don’t know where or how or why but-” His breath hitched as the memory of their hands on him assaulted him full force. He could almost feel the fabric of his t-shirt being pulled, straining under multiple sets of hands. 

“Take your time,” She soothed, kissing his temple. He swallowed, nodding weakly as he dug his fingers into the meat of her thigh. He hit hard muscle fairly quickly, but it was still something heavy and flesh and  _ real _ to grab onto. Deep breaths, in, out, in...he licked his lips, trying again.

“They brought me to some kind of lab ma’am. I-I don’t know what they were going to do to me, but they held me down on some kind of table and there were all these lights-” He cut off, taking in a gulp of air as he shuddered. Tracy waited patiently for him to begin speaking again, not breaking her rhythm. His mouth went dry as he shuddered again, trying to speak through the lump in his throat. “I-Instruments. I don’t know what. They were looming over me and I was screaming and they didn’t care and they just kept cutting and prodding and-” He stopped, forcing himself to take a breath. He tended to run his words together when he got nervous, sentences lost to his ramblings. He honestly didn’t understand how Tracy handled it. Before he became a courser, if this happened the scientists could never understand him, staring in open hostility as he shook and tried to force words past his swollen tongue. More often than not, they just ignored him. But never Tracy. He wondered what he had done to deserve her, what old world deity had decided she should look after him. Hell, maybe she was one of those angels she liked to go on about. She always said Preston was, why couldn’t she? His hands shook as he managed to push away from her, calm enough to realize how many codes he was breaking. If the Institute could see him now, he’d be taken apart or incinerated or worse on the spot. 

“It was just a dream. Nobody’s coming for you, and nobody ever will get to you. We’ll stop them. Me and Preston and Nick...none of us will let them near you. Let alone touch you,” Her words calmed him, soothing his shaky nerves. “Do you want some water?” Another shake of his head. “Do you want me to go?” Another, more desperate, shake of his head, complete with his hands curling in her shirt and pulling her against his chest. He rested his forehead on the crown of her head, his breath fanning over her cheek and stirring the hair that hung over her ears. 

“Love you, don’t want to lose you,” He whimpered in his sleep and panic fogged haze, not even realizing what he had said until she went still and silent in his arms.  _ Stupid stupid look what you’ve done stupid stupid- _ Her hands snaked up his arms, cupping his face. 

“You’re tired and scared,” She whispered, stroking his cheekbones with her thumb. “In the morning, you’ll regret saying that. It’s okay. Don’t feel like you owe me anything for thi-” He grabbed her hands, burying his face in them so she couldn’t see the way his eyes screwed shut to force tears back.

“Love you love you can’t lose you won’t lose you-” It was half rambled, barely sentences. She didn’t flinch away, instead gently stroking his face. 

“Look at me, darling,” He obeyed without question, looking up at her with tear tracks on his face. She smiled, calm and serene. “It’s okay. You won’t lose me. I won’t be going anywhere. We can talk about this in the morning,” Gently, she wiped the tears off his face, dropping her hands on his shoulders to guide him to lay down. “Get some sleep. We can sort all of this out in the morning, okay?” His hand grabbed her wrist as she went to leave. 

“Don’t go,” He whimpered, staring up at her. He knew he made a pathetic sight, tears dripping from his eyes and his lip quivering. 

“‘M just going back to my room, sweet thing. I won’t be far-”

“ _ Please, _ ” It wasn’t even a request, or even a whimper. It was flat out begging, a high whine that he could scarcely believe came out of his own throat. She hesitated for all of a half second before climbing back onto his cot, slipping behind him and laying down. 

“Lay on your side,” She whispered, and he obeyed, turning to face her. Gently, she guided his hand to lay between their chests, her fingers tangling with his own. Slowly, as if testing water, her legs tangled around his, cold feet brushing his calfs. “Try to get some sleep doll. I won’t go anywhere. If it happens again and you wake up and I don’t, squeeze my hand,” As if to demonstrate, she squeezed his,and he latched onto the sensation, squeezing back until he heard her knuckles pop. His hand darted away guiltily, more tears leaking out of his eyes. She was patient, dragging it back and resting her fingers between his again. “It’s okay darling. Here, this may be better,” Slowly, she came closer, looping her around his neck when he didn’t panic or push her away. She settled against him, as much him cradling her against his chest as her cradling him against her own. Her lips brushed his neck as she breathed, hot air fanning over his clammy flesh. He slipped his free hand under her, squeezing her closer as her own slipped under his head, wrapping around his neck. Slowly, the chill began to leave his body, replaced with a safe warmth. His muscles began to de-tense, and soon he couldn’t remember why he had woken up in the first place. The sound of her breathing lulled him to sleep. 

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: I know the whole "love" thing is probably too strong of a word, but his lack of experience with those kinds of feelings would most likely leave him feeling in extremes at the beginning. That's just my HC and that's why he blurts out love and isn't like "yea I def have a crush on you". Crush is kind of a foreign concept to him unless you mean crush in the "crush a can" sense. So is "like" unless you mean the casual "I like *insert food/item here*" and not the way people tend to mean as in "want to have romantic affiliation with". I'm sorry I'm bad at explaining my reasoning behind stuff and this got rambley.


End file.
